Chapter 98: Proof of Abilities (1)
Binhaim continued speaking.
"However, many commanders still don’t recognize your skills. In order to convince them, you have to show them proof of your abilities.”
“A proof of my abilities?”
"You can do one of three things. One method is to take down the centaur lord, one of the advanced lords under the Second Demon King on the Bloody Battlefield, and retrieve a token of proof.”
A centaur was a monster with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. If it was an advanced lord, it was clear that the centaur’s attack power would be tough.
"What is the token specifically?”
"The heart is the most obvious thing. It isn’t easy to get, so equipment above the hero rank should be sufficient.”
“I see.”
A lord was guaranteed to drop hero rank equipment or higher.
Binhaim said,
"In order to do this, you will have to go into enemy lines. We will keep the Second Demon King and his three commanders in check but you will have to survive the advanced lords and the monsters.”
Kang-jun nodded. The Second Demon King and his three commanders were still too much for Kang-jun. It was fortunate that Rainkar and the others would take care of them.
"Then the other two ways?”
"Another is to take down the Dark Mage Dekail, also one of the advanced lords under the Second Demon King, and bring a token to prove it. Similarly, if you gain hero rank equipment from Dekail, it will be proof of your abilities.”
Dark Mage Dekail.
The other monsters were called lords but he had a unique name.
‘Dark mages are also called warlocks.’
An advanced warlock would be quite tricky to deal with.
"The last method is just in case the two things mentioned above are too burdensome for you. No matter what type, bring three lords’ hearts and give them to us. Apparently, you are quite lucky, so it shouldn’t be hard.”
"Give you three lords’ hearts?”
Kang-jun was dumbfounded. Giving away hearts... He wondered if there was a reason why he had to prove his skills to become the 7th Army Commander.
Binhaim smiled.
"It doesn’t matter if it is the heart of a lower lord. However, it must be a pure heart that has never been installed. Personally, I recommend the last method. Fighting with advanced lords can be very dangerous.”
In order to become the 7th Army Commander, he would have to take care of one of two advanced lords or obtain three hearts by killing the intermediate or lower lords.
However, the advanced lords were very strong and it was risky.
In the end, it was like he was being told to bring three hearts from lower lords.
However, it had to be a pure heart that had never been installed.
'Why do they need it? Do they want to use it as a sacrifice for the strengthening?’
He didn’t care why.
Kang-jun didn’t want to become the 7th Commander if it involved giving up hearts.
What good was becoming the 7th Commander?
It was an honour but it would be fairly cumbersome.
Therefore, Kang-jun was about to respectfully decline the position of 7th Army Commander.
However, at that moment, the 12th Commander, Rainkar, opened his mouth.
"Lucan! It is up to you to select which of the three methods you want to do. If you prove your skills and become the 7th Army Commander, you will qualify for the Guardian Hall.”
Guardian Hall? What was that?
Rainkar gave Kang-jun a meaningful smile.
“The Guardian Hall contains various items left behind by the commanders of Earth Hwanmong. If there is a connection, you can gain something quite powerful from there. It could be incomparable to three hearts."
Rainkar had read Kang-jun’s mind about not taking the position of the 7th Army Commander.
So, he gave Kang-jun a reason to become the 7th Commander.
Prove his skills to become the 7th Commander and he could enter the Guardian Hall.
Kang-jun’s eyes lit up.
'Guardian Hall.’
Rainkar’s words meant that it would be incomparable to three hearts.
It was the word of the strongest person in Earth Hwanmong.
'Then that changes things.'
Kang-jun nodded and said,
“I understand. I will come back with proof of my skills.”
"Good luck, Lucan.”
Binhaim smiled happily.
Kang-jun returned to the base of the Yugang building.
He then headed straight towards the base warehouse.
Before he entered the Bloody Battlefield, he filled his chaos power up with the essences received by trading 1,000 moonstones.
‘It is necessary to leave some types in order to summon troops.’
Kang-jun left a few hundred of each type of essence. Except for 2,000 essences, he turned everything else into chaos power.
-Chaos power needed to upgrade to Stage 5: 15000/32000
Combined with the previous points, he had 15,000 chaos power.
He needed 17,000 more points if he wanted to try and strengthen the wings.
However, he hadn’t yet exchanged the essences to chaos power in order to strengthen his wings.
It was more convenient to switch at a later time when he had gathered enough essences for strengthening.
‘Survival is the priority, rather than strengthening.’
Kang-jun was going to fight strong enemies.
Therefore, he would use the chaos power in order to live.
If he attempted to strengthen the wings and failed, 32,000 chaos points would be gone.
That much chaos power was enough for him to use Will to Fight 40 times.
Kang-jun decided that it was wiser to level up by using Will to Fight 40 times.
Raising his level meant he would become stronger.
So, he would concentrate on raising his level.
Once he had raised his level enough, he would try strengthening. In the meantime, he would sweep away the enemies using Will to Fight.
There was another reason why he thought he should try strengthening later.
He knew of a method to raise his good luck by three points.
If he managed to build the Lucky Tower on the roof of the Delta building, there would be a higher probability of success.
Kang-jun exited the warehouse and stopped by the shelter located on the roof of the Yugang building.
‘I recommend that Lord stops by the Dimensional Shelter every time you come to Hwanmong.’
It was like Keirun had said earlier. The reason for that was he could gain surprisingly good items through the dimensional merchants.
‘Today, there are two people.’
The person from last time was sitting down and doing business, but there was one more person today.
‘I wonder if it is a rip off.’
The merchant from last time was still selling some essences for moonstones, so he just passed by.
Kang-jun moved in front of the new merchant. He was just sitting down quietly with nothing in front of him.
“What are you selling?”
The merchant smiled and replied,
“I am buying things. I will exchange moonstones for the things I am looking for.”
Dimensional Piece- 1,000 Moonstones
Essence of Chaos - 100 Moonstones
He was only looking for two things.
If he brought the merchant a Dimensional Piece, he would get 1,000 moonstones in return. In addition, an Essence of Chaos was worth 100 moonstones.
It was because a Dimensional Piece was very rare.
Then was an Essence of Chaos worth 100 moonstones?
If Kang-jun sold 100 moonstones to the Black Dragon Firm, he could get 3 billion won and 1,500 essences.
That was enough to get 1,500 chaos power.
He wondered if an Essence of Chaos was worth it. He had never seen an Essence of Chaos yet.
Kang-jun exited the Dimensional Shelter and moved to the 438th Army Headquarters.
It was to meet Grania for a duel before going to the Bloody Battlefield.
However, she was absent. It seemed like she was fighting with the subordinates of the Second Demon King.
‘Then I’ll see her next time.’
Kang-jun finally moved to the Bloody Battlefield.
After a while, at Lucan's base:
Lucan’s base was used by Earth Hwanmong’s Defense Army and was located on the forefront of the Bloody Battlefield.
Kang-jun was the owner of this place.
As Kang-jun appeared through the portal, hundreds of defenders greeted him politely.
“I greet the Commander.”
“I greet Commander Lucan.”
They were now looking at him with awe-filled eyes.
Kang-jun nodded towards them with dignity and walked over to one of them.
He was the 103rd Commander Mustel.
He belonged to a strange species with the head of a deer, four arms and a muscular body.
Unlike the mild impression he gave off, a very intense light was shining in his eyes. Mustel shouted as Kang-jun approached.
"103rd Commander Mustel greets Commander Lucan.”
His attitude was as though Kang-jun was a high-ranking person. Kang-jun laughed awkwardly.
"I am a commander just like you.”
Mustel smiled.
"I heard you will soon be the 7th Army Commander. I support you.”
"It gives me strength to hear you say so. I do have one question.”
"Ask whatever you want. I will tell you if I know.”
"Do you know where the centaur lord or Dark Mage Dekail is often seen?”
Mustel shook his head and replied,
“It is impossible to know the exactly location of the lords. We can just estimate the approximate location of monsters.”
Mustel continued speaking,
"Go through five forests after leaving the base in that direction, then you will find the grasslands where the centaurs often pop up. And past the grasslands, the dark mages can sometimes be found in the second forest.”
"Thank you. I won’t have to go looking for them thanks to you.”
There was no guarantee that the centaur lord or dark mage Dekail would appear there. Still, if he continued to observe those places, he would eventually meet the centaur lord or dark mage.
At that time, Mustel said with an anxious expression,
"The advanced lords are very strong, so be careful. Then I wish you luck.”
After a while, Kang-jun left Lucan’s base and moved in the direction that Mustel had said.
'There aren’t many monsters.’
Due to their defeat in the base defense fight, the supporters of the Second Demon King had almost disappeared from around Lucan’s base.
After flying for a while...
He finally saw the forest.
If he moved past five forests, the grasslands where centaurs could be seen would appear.
However, Kang-jun had no intention of going there to confront the centaur lord.
There was no rush, so he would take care of the monsters in the area.
‘Oh! Skeletons.’
Additionally, there was a skeleton a few times larger than normal skeletons.
‘The skeleton lord again?’
He looked closer and saw that the bones were glowing blue.
He didn’t know if there were different skeleton species but they were different from the skeletons he saw before.
It was the same for the skeleton lord.
He discovered Kang-jun flying and wielded his staff.
Hwaruruk!
Flames started flying toward Kang-jun.
‘He is a magician type skeleton lord.’
Kang-jun avoided the flames and stood in front of the skeleton lord.
Hwaruru! Pa pa pa pa!
Then huge fire spears were created from the skeleton lord’s staff and flown toward Kang-jun.
Kang-jun tried to avoid them but they were like guided missiles, so there was a limit to his evasion.
‘Heavenly Flow!’
He was forced to use a skill. It was one of the skills of the Heaven’s Blood Sword Style that dispersed magic attacks.
Sususu.
It was the first time he had tried it. At that moment, the dozens of flame spears aiming at Kang-jun were extinguished.